YuGiOh! Zexal: Return of Chaos
by americancheeze
Summary: Sequel to YuGiOh! 5D's Road to Destiny. Two generations after the adventures of Koyou Kou and the Signers, an evil long thought defeated returns and new heroes must rise to the challenge. Yuma Tsukumo is the chosen one, but he is not the only hero and Chaos is not the only unexpected return.


A/N: Welcome to the sequel to my YuGiOh! 5D's fic Road to Destiny. This takes place about 50 years after the end of that fic in the Zexal era of YuGiOh! Road to Destiny wasn't complete when I posted this, as I wrote and uploaded this simply because I felt like writing it now. It doesn't have any spoilers for that fic, so don't worry about that. Also this is only the prelude and doesn't feature any Zexal characters, but the next chapter will feature the cast of the show and some more OCs. This chapter mainly sets up one of the two major plots of the fic, which will be running alongside the canon events. Road to Destiny will be updated soon. The chapter is just taking a little longer to perfect since it is a tricky one to write and I've been having PC trouble.

Prelude: The Hollow Man

"Monica-chan, order up!" the deep, gravely voice of the boss came through the pick-up window connecting the kitchen to the rest of the diner.

I turned from the table I was wiping down and went over as he went back to work, then pcicked up the steak dinner that was there.

"Smile, Monica-chan." he motioned with his hands to correct me. It was barely a reprimand, even though he'd had to tell me that at least twice a night since he hired me. It was just the burly bald man's usual warm, fatherly demeanor, "You're a pretty girl, don't waste it."

"Pfft. Sweet words don't work at the tail end of a ten hour shift, Pops." I quipped, then pushed the stray lock of brown hair that had escaped from the bun I had my hair in and fixed my expression, "It's not like we have a lot of customers right now though. There's just Tomaki and he never even loks up from his work."

Pops pointed to the opposite side of the diner, "And that one."

I turned to follow the gesture and saw a tall man sitting alone at a booth doing nothing other than waiting. He had well groomed brown hair with a hint of gray in it, but I couldn't see his face from where I was. "How long has he been here? I didn't even notice him."

"Not long, just a few minutes."

I quickly went to take the order to Tomaki and then headed towards the other customer. He was new, at least to my shift since I'd never seen him there before. The guy did look kinda familiar though, but I couldn't place the face. Whoever he was, he didn't look that far past forty even with the flecks of gray. Though he was obviously Japanese his features were more squared off and rugged than most Japanese men and it gave him a slightly foreign look. The look on his face was more jarring. There was absolutely no expression at all, not even a hint of emotion in his eyes. He wasn't looking at the menu, fidgeting, or anything else. It was like looking at a shell, like someone had just put a realistic figure of a human in the booth and left it there as a prank. I noticed there were two deck boxes on his belt, so he was obviously a duelist.

I took out my notepad and put on a smile, "Hello, my name's Monica and I'll be your waitress this evening. May I take your order?"

"Coffee," He said plainly, no emotion in his voice. He didn't even bother looking at me. Or moving anything but his mouth for that matter. Honestly, him blinking caught me a little by surprise he was so lifeless, "with..." he glanced to the edge of the table and noticed there were packets of creamer and sugar on the table already, "Nevermind, just coffee."

"Bit late for coffee. You work the night shift?" I tried to break the ice.

"I'm retired."

"Really? You don't look old enough to be retired." I pointed at his decks, "Unless you were on the pro-circuit or something."

"Listen." he started to say something that would normally involve turning and glaring then speaking with an annoyed tone, but instead he didn't bother to look at me, change expression, or change tone. "I will give you a 200% tip if you just skip the small talk."

It was hard to get offended. He was just so empty. I looked into his eyes and there was nothing there... there was just nothing. It was more than just a little unnerving. "I didn't mean to intrude. You just seemed... you seemed like you needed to talk. I'm sorry for presuming."

I noticed his hands twitch a little, as if he was about to clench his fists, but didn't. The guy didn't move otherwise. He actually turned and aimed his eyes at me. I phrase that oddly because I can't count such a blank, mechanical expression as looking at me. He wasn't looking at anything. "Thank you, but I don't want to talk. I just want some coffee."

Why did this guy seem so familiar? I was sure I'd never met anyone so... blank. "Sorry. I'll get your coffee. The pot is nearly empty and has been sitting a while, so if you don't mind the wait I'll make you a fresh pot."

"Don't bother."

"Three hour old coffee coming up."

Strolling over to the pick-up window, I grabbed the pot out of the coffee maker on the edge. Pops was cleaning the grill, "That guy looks like he's got a long story to him, Pops. You ever see him in here?"

"In the mornings." Pops answered simply, "Scares the hell out of the other waitresses. This is the first time I've seen him in here this late."

"You know anything about him?"

Pops shrugged, "He likes the coffee here? I dunno. That's all he ever orders. Honestly that's the most I've ever seen him talk."

"Huh." I looked over at the strange man, "How does a person even get like that?"

Pops smiled, "You're a sweetheart, Monica-chan. That's why I like you. You know you're the only one of the girls that has said that?"

"Well, the rest of the girls are high schoolers."

"You talk like you're old."

"Motherhood does that."

"Even so, a lot of people don't learn nothing from experience, so I'll mark you as special whether you like it or not."

"Ha. Thanks, Pops."

"Speaking of motherhood, go ahead and head home. Mai-chan will be in soon and work is slow."

"I don't mind the extra work."

"And you've already worked two shifts today. Head home and tuck your little one in, girl."

I smiled, "Sure, Pops. I guess I will. I haven't been getting nearly enough Mom hours in lately."

"I pay you what I can, Monica-chan. If I could-"

"Pops, I don't want charity and my salary is fine. You're a great boss and I'm grateful, it's just hard raising a daughter."

"I know. Either way, if you need anything I'm here for you. You girls are like family to me."

"Thanks." I tried not to think about Pops' daughter, or bring her up by apologizing for mentioning daughters around him. It didn't seem to bother him either way, but I still didn't want to dredge up bad memories from his past. "I should get this coffee to the customer. Could you toss me my bag out of the back so I can head out afterword?"

Pops nodded, went to grab my bag, and returned moments later. With it in hand, I turned and headed back towards the customer, trying not to imagine myself in Pops' place. The kind old man had lost his daughter fifteen years ago when a disaster struck and made the grant funding her medical treatment impossible. He couldn't pay for her cancer treatments and had to watch her slowly wither away. It was hard thinking about it, especially since I had a little girl of my own.

"Here you go." I set the coffee down in front of the blank man.

He didn't react at all.

"Your coffee is here."

"Yeah. Thank you." He didn't move.

It pissed me off a little for some reason, maybe because I was a little tense from thinking about Pops' daughter. So I sat down right across from him, setting my bag beside me, "So you're a duelist right? You up for a game?"

"Don't you have work?" he didn't even look at me.

"No, I just got off."

"Then shouldn't you be leaving?"

I prodded, "I'm waiting for you to get done so I can get my tip."

And he actually reacted, looking at me and my grin with just enough expression to barely be considered a glare, "A bit aggressive aren't you?"

"I need the money. I have a kid to raise."

He took out his wallet, and put an exactly 200% tip down in front of me. It was exact change, even including taxes. The guy then returned to his original position.

"So. You want a duel or not?"

He looked at me again, then took a large chunk of the tip back.

"Whoa, hey!" I exclaimed, "My tip!"

"The extra was for skipping small talk, which you aren't doing."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed what was left, standing up with a huff. "Fine. I was just trying to be your friend, but if you're going to be that big a grump then go ahead and enjoy staring at your coffee."

He looked at me, raising an eyebrow at my reaction, but not saying anything.

It pissed me off even more, so I sarcastically bowed slightly and played up the waitress role, "Enjoy your night, sir, and please come again."

I stomped out and down the street, heading for the bus stop, not even thinking to grab my purse. I didn't even notice until I had made the long walk and sat down. As I sat there, I facepalmed, "God. I just went off on a customer while in uniform! Pops'll give me such an earful." Though any other place would have given me worse. "What is up with me? Must be the long hours lately."

Instead of making the long trip back in the dark for a purse that had pretty much nothing in it, I counted the tip in my hand to see if it was enough for bus fair. Once I counted it out I realized something. I thought the guy had taken the larger bill and left the smaller of the two bills. Instead, he'd taken the smaller one. Instead of lowering the tip to normal sized one, he'd just pretended to and instead still given me a 150% tip. "What the hell? Maybe he's actually a nice guy?" As if cruel fate was punishing me, I had a nice bit of money, but lacked the exact change I need for fare. "Did he do that on purpose? GAH!"

Frustrated, I stood up sharply and started back towards the diner, but again karma decided to kick me. Not many steps along, I noticed a group of three shady teenage boys in high school uniforms, each with a duel disk. They were smoking and looked very much like stereotypical delinquents. The three moved to block my way, the one to my left moving closer.

"Hey, lady. Need some help?" he started moving past me so I backed up, trying to keep him from flanking me.

It was then I noticed there was already another behind me, "Yeah, what's a pretty lady like you doing all alone on a nice night like this?"

"She's not alone." I cold voice spoke up from behind the two blocking my way to the diner. When they turned to see who was speaking, they parted enough for me to see him as well: the hollow man, holding my purse. "There a problem?"

The tallest of the four stepped towards him, and took note that they were the same height, "You got a problem old man? I don't like the look in your eye."

He didn't actually have one, which was probably the problem. Even though the punk was acting big and bad and trying to intimidate him, the hollow man was barely acknowledging his existence. "You kids need to go home and stop harassing girls near bus stops. Surely you have something better to be doing at this hour?"

"Don't talk down to me, geezer, or I'll correct you harder next time."

The man motioned to the punk's duel disk. "You kids are duelists right? How about I face the strongest of you and we settle this calmly?"

The tall punk laughed, and looked back at his friends, "You hear this old timer acting tough?"

They laughed, the smallest one cheering the tall one on, "Tear him apart, Gozu! Show 'em what we can do!"

'Gozu' turned back to the man, slotting a deck into his duel disk and putting on a pair of D-Gazer sunglasses, "You got yourself a duel."

"Alright." the man stepped back to dueling distance.

"Where's you disk man? You can't duel without a-"

The man pulled out a cellphone and hit a button, which caused in to speak in a female voice that had a foreign accent, "Standing duel engaged." with that he placed the phone on a wristband and a holographic duel disk appeared in place on his arm. It had the shape of a gauntlet with a sword bound to it, the blade sticking out past his fist rather than along his forearm like normal, the cell spoke up as the man slotted his deck, "Virtual disk ready. Duel!"

All the punks got nervous at the sight, the short one speaking up, "Dude, that's a duel cell! Only free duelists use those!"

Gozu regained himself and snapped back, "So he can free-run and duel at the same time? So what?"

"That thing is _custom_, Gozu! I think he can back up his talk, man!"

"Shut up, Gimmel! I've got this! Hell, he ain't even putting on a D-Gazer, how serious can he be?"

Come to think of it, I carries my D-Gazer in my pocket all the time, since they could be used as phones. I took it out and put it over one eye. It was only a standard monocle-type, but it would still let me see the monsters and effects in play more easily. I got the feeling that it would be a spectacle I shouldn't miss.

"I'll take the first turn." the hollow man drew his starting hand of five cards then one more for his first turn draw. He barely even looked at them, and his expression didn't change at all, " I set two cards face down and end my turn."

Gozu laughed, "He didn't even summon a monster!" Gozu played a card, summoning a wiry shimmering dragon with 2000 attack to the field. "Try that on for size, old timer."

"You are as bad at this as I expected." the man replied coldly. The fact the comment was totally emotionless probably made it all the more enraging.

"You got some nerve! I'm taking you down a peg with a direct attack!"

"And I'm countering with the trap you should have expected me to have, since I didn't summon. Dimensional Prison. Your monster is banished."

"Grr. You bastard. I set two cards, go."

The man drew, again only glancing at it. He already had a strategy that would work obviously. It occurred to me as I watched him make his next moves that he wasn't looking at his cards with only glances because of lack of seriousness. It was because he didn't need to look at them more than that. Watching his handling the cards it was clear. The man had been playing a long time and knew his deck as well as he knew his own arm.

"I activate my other trap card: Chain Material. This turn whenever I fusion summon I may use materials from my deck, but they are banished. I cast Polymerization and banish Blaster the Flame Incarnate Dragon, Redox the Rock Incarnate Dragon, Tidal the Waterfall Incarnate Dragon, Tempest the Storm Incarnate Dragon, and Darkstorm Dragon from my deck"

"What the hell?"

"to fusion summon: Five Headed Dragon." a gigantic five headed dragon with 5000 attack appeared on the field. "Becau-"

One of the punks cried out, "Holy crap, Gozu! You're wide open!"

"No I'm not! I activate Bottomless Trap Hole! Your dragon is banished! Take that!"

The man sighed, "You apparently didn't know that monsters summoned with Chain Material can't attack. You really need to study your dueling more."

"You didn't say that part you cheating-"

"I activate the effects of Blaster, Redox, Tidal, and Tempest. Because they were banished I can add a dragon of their attribute from my deck to my hand. Rather than list off all their long names I will just show them and inform you that they are all Incarnate Dragons and all level 4.

"Dammit."

"Each of which I can discard alongside the Cthonian Emperor Dragon, Darkstorm Dragon, Phoenix Gearfried, and Tuned Swordsman in my hand to special summon four familiar faces from my deck: Blaster the Flame Incarnate Dragon," a massive brutish dragon made of magma erupted onto the field with 2800 attack, "Redox the Rock Incarnate Dragon" a dragon that was pretty much a mountain with legs rose from the earth with 1600 attack but much higher defense, "Tempest the Storm Incarnate Dragon." a huge green dragon enveloped in wind and lightning formed from a gust of loose debris appeared with 2400 attack, "and finally Tidal the Waterfall Incarnate Dragon." a waterfall the size of the street fell from thin air and from it emerged a slender, but immense dragon made of ice. It had 2600 attack.

"Holy crap..."

"Unless you have something to stop this. It's already over. I declare four direct attack on your life points." The four dragons let out primal roars that together would have shaken the earth if they weren't only holograms, then charged in at the punk, who seemed to have no defense.

"AHHHHHH!" he screamed like a girl.

Though I admit, being only a few steps behind him, I ended up yanking off my D-Gazer at the sight of the massive attack coming my direction, and the punk fell back from the display as his life points plunged straight from 8000 to nothing. He hadn't even scratched his opponent. It had a total annihilation.

As if it were nothing, the hollow man, deactivated his disk and put his deck away, motioning at Gozu's disk, "Check your disk. It got the approval signal. That means I didn't cheat. Duel disks these days have systems in them to prevent tampering or stacking your deck. Hell, my hand was actually pretty bad."

Glancing at his disk, Gozu knew at least the first part was true, "What the hell, man! That was dirty!"

"Don't blame me for you jumping the gun. I was going to explain that Five Headed Dragon couldn't attack, but you cut me off."

"You bastard!" Gozu got up and took a step forward as if to attack the man.

Without having changed expression the entire time, the hollow man calmly noted, "I called the police the moment I saw you punks moving in on her. Considering we're pretty close to a station, they'll be here in a few moments. You should probably focus more on running than punching."

Gozu gritted his teeth in anger. "I'll get you for this, you cheating geezer! You better watch your back!" he turned to his friends, "Let's get out of here, he'll get his another day."

The group ran off and I was left alone with the man, who simply handed me my purse as if nothing had happened, "You forgot this."

I took my purse, looked at it for a moment as I tried to process his weird behavior and ridiculous level of dueling power, and turned to him, "Who the heck are you?"

He sighed, his expression changing for the first time since the diner... to a look of fatigue, "I'll see you home. They might try to snatch you if I leave you alone."

"Are you even listening to me? I asked for your name."

He sighed again then simply told me his name, it was a name I would never forget. Not because of his actions that night, but because it was the name of the man who had changed my entire life twenty years before that night. Right then I thought it ironic and would find it even more irnoic later as the hollow man changed my life even more.

Next Chapter: Dawn of the Numbers.


End file.
